It has been estimated that as much as two-thirds of deceased soldiers in the US Civile War were killed not by bullets but by disease, with the most prevalent of those diseases being the intestinal illnesses diarrhea and dysentery. It was not clear, based on the established medical knowledge, exactly what caused these illnesses to flourish in military camps, but one physician by the name of James H. Salisbury suspected diet was the greatest culprit, and came up with his own solution.
An Olympic medal event only since 1998 you might think that curling is a relatively new sport apparently invented in Canada. And, of course, neither is true. The sport dates back at least to the 16th century, and comes from perhaps a surprising place.
During the later half of the nineteenth century numerous attempts were made to assassinate Tsar Alexander II of Russia. Killing the Tsar, however, turned out to be no easy task.
The St Louis World’s Fair, officially known as the Louisiana Purchase Expedition, was an enormous event, with more than 60 countries and 43 states maintaining exhibition spaces for nearly twenty million visitors. In addition to the many exhibitions, a variety of private enterprises set up camp near the fair in the hopes of making money off the guaranteed audience. Some of those ideas worked better than others, but few among them went as ridiculously badly as the attempt to put on a Spanish-Style bullfight.